Taiwan Taipei Mission

Monday, March 30, 2015

Earthquake, Rain & Miracles

This week has been absolutely amazing!!! I cant believe I have already
been in Taiwan for a month! It seems like yesterday when I was getting
off the plane in the airport!

Before I forget, dad yes the fruit
here is amazing! It is the end of orange season right now and these
little tomatoes. Literally like everyone we visit gives us oranges,
kiwi, or mini tomatoes. It is crazy. Strawberry season is next I
think...I haven't had many mangoes because they are not in season but
last night at Hong JiaTing, they invited one of our investigators over
for dinner with us, Gan JieMei and she brought green mangoes and they
were so good! Like the sweet and sour ones!

AND
Our new dog is SO adorable! Yes, he is fat! haha put him on a diet! It
looks like Alexa and Lachlan absolutely love him! Marissa, he loves you
so love Buddy back! :) It sounds like it was a fun spring break and
Marissa, it looks and sounds like you had a great birthday! I can't
believe you are 15!! Happy birthday again!! Grandpa H., happy birthday
to you as well!! Sure love you all :)

Bryan,
loved the pictures you were able to send this week! (or last :) It's
good to hear that you are having a great time serving in the
Philippines. There is a person who just got baptized in our branch on
Saturday, one of the elders investigators, who is from the Philippines
but more down south. He is here in Taiwan for work and will possibly be
here for up to the next 5 years. But, his wife, son, and mother-in-law
skyped in for his baptism and I was able to talk to them for a little
bit! They were so cute! The people there must be amazing! Keep up the
great work! Thanks for being such a huge example to me! Love you!

As for my week:

Monday:
Last Monday, our mission leader took us all to XinZhu and we had a
blast! We were able to go to a small art exhibit in a high school and
talk to two students about their art. It was cute when we were there. We
were walking through a building and all these girls came up to me and
said hi and I said hello back and they are started laughing and like ran
away..haha it was cute. We also went to a ghost temple and Jeffrey,
mission leader, explained the meaning of a lot of the Buddhist Gods in
the temple. We found some MUG root beer too! Overall, it was a great
day!

Preparation day ends at 6. We were calling
referrals/potentials for about 30 minutes in our apartment and there was
an earthquake! We live on the 4th floor of our apartment and our
clothes were swaying and everything. It freaked me out! haha I guess
they occur often in Taiwan?

So, last Sunday, we were making
less-active calls and we called Wu Jia Wen. When we talked to him, he
was really excited and wanted to meet with us the next day, So, at 7, us
and the elders went over to his house together to meet and get to know
him. His wife left him I believe about a year ago and since then, he has
fallen away from the church and has been really depressed. When we
went over, he was so happy to see us and talked so much! We went in
prepared to share a spiritual message about faith but Sister Fisher was
prompted to share Alma 36:19-20 as soon as he was done reading this, he
looked up and said this is exactly how I am feeling and I feel now like I
want to slowly start coming back to church. He said it is going to take
some time but he feels like he is finally at a time in his life he
wants to turn around and come back! It was so neat! His wife also took
his Book of Mormon when she left him so we were able to give him a new
one and he was so happy!

Tuesday we had
district meeting and a lesson with Fan Zhu Song. He is such a golden
investigator! Today, we had our lesson at Akin's home and we discussed
the Plan of Salvation. His favorite part is the Celestial Kingdom
because it is a really happy place! He read 1 Nephi 1 as well before we
met and he had really good questions! We can tell that he is really
studying it out, marking stuff up, and trying to come to the knowledge
for himself if the church is true! Tuesday night we also went English
boarding for English class at the night market.

Wednesday:
We had a really good member lesson with Akin where we discussed the
Book of Mormon and the things she is currently studying. We did a lot of
tracting and knocking doors and then Wednesday night, we had English
class. I teach the most advanced class (since I am the newest missionary
in our area) and tonight I was teaching them about how to use a, an,
the. I felt so bad because none of them understood it...so this week we
will have to go over it again...teaching English is so fun though! It is
a good service opportunity and quite a few people come!

Thursday
we had our weekly planning session and just a normal day of missionary
work. Thursday night we biked out to visit a Less-Active and we stopped
by a 7 near her home to make a few phone calls before going to her home
and while we were there, we started talking to an older man who has
never heard of God or Christ and doesn't have any religious background!
He seems somewhat interested and said he would try to come to church on
Sunday but he wasn't there. We got his phone number and address and so
hopefully we will be able to help him come to know who Heavenly Father
and Jesus Christ are. We also had a really good lesson with a
Less-Active Huang Qi Wang. She is about 40 and extremely depressed. She
is the only Christian in her family-the rest are Buddhist. We reviewed
the Plan of Salvation with her and she told us when she was in her 20's
she loved going to church and reading the scriptures but now she feels
like her family members are really mad and disappointed in her because
she went Christian so she now is by-bying them to 'make up' what she
thinks she did wrong...We were able to bear testimony about how they are
able to come to know Christ where they are right now in their life and
hopefully that cleared things up :) She was so grateful when we left! It
was super cute!

Friday: Had a lesson with Wu
Mei Yu (NuSkin lady). We brought a member with us and Wu Mei Yu talked
for half the time to this member right in front of us about our Chinese
and how she can understand us but we have a weird accent and when we
leave her notes on her door, they look like children wrote them. haha
Sister Fisher and I just sat there. We told her that we have weaknesses
and our Chinese is still not very good and we are learning how to write
characters but it takes time...haha Our member was so good to also back
us up. So long story short nothing really progressed in our lesson
with her. However, Friday night, we had a lesson with Fan Zhu Song. The
Elders were our member present because we can't meet with males alone
and they wanted to meet him. We were able to discuss his Book of Mormon
reading and what he needs to do to more fully prepare for baptism. We
helped him make a more detailed plan as to how he will be able to start
coming to church. (Oh, we also found out he has two houses. A dorm in
Zhunan and a House in TouFen, so we get to keep teaching him here!) His
big issue is work. We discussed it with him and he has a huge desire to
come to know the truth! In 2 weeks, he will be able to start coming to
church. He has a new baptism date for May 16!

Friday night we
were able to meet with a potential investigator. She met us at the
church and she thought we set up the meeting to teach her English and
that is all she wants to learn from us. It took us a whole 20 minutes to
explain to her that we can only teach English on Wednesday and that we
can't have one on one lessons...Friday was a day of weird lessons..haha

Saturday
We had a great lesson with Lu Pei Ling. Hong JieMei was an awesome
peike (member present)! We discussed 1 Nephi 20-where she is in the Book
of Mormon. and taught her more about the Atonement and Faith. We also
had a lesson with Gan JeiMei and she asked us why so many people
persecute the church and why our church is the only one that so many
people talk bad about but that when she sees the members of our church
and us as missionaries-we are so happy. It was neat because she wants
that happiness as well. We were also able to discover some of her needs
as to what is holding her back from getting baptized. We also did some
tracting.

Saturday night was Henry's baptism!!! Sister Fisher
and I were asked to sing during his baptism program. His favorite song
is We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet so we sang that. He was so happy and
it was so awesome to see him get baptized and bear his testimony about
how the church has changed his life. His wife has been a member her
whole life and also served a mission when she was younger but has never
come to found the truth until he was in Taiwan! Gan JieMei also attended
the baptism and she brought her three little kids! It was so neat!

SUNDAY was
amazing!!! WE had 3 investigators at church!!! Wu Mei Yu, Lu Pei Ling,
and Liang Man Ting!! It was amazing!! Wu Mei Yu was only able to stay
for sacrament meeting but Lu Pei Ling stayed the entire time and for the
most part I think she really enjoyed it. It definitely is a new
experience though when they come to church! It is so neat to also see
people change for the better and have a desire to come unto Christ.
After church, we were able to meet with Liang Man Ting and teach her
about the Restoration. She is 13 years old. She is so cute and loves
church. This is her 3rd time at church and she wants to keep coming
back-her aunt is a recent convert about a year ago.

Sunday
night, we had dinner with Hong JiaTing! They are the cutest family! (Go
on Facebook to Peter Qiu and I think he posted some pictures.) Gan
JieMei, our investigator, also came to dinner and brought her three
kids, and one of Hong JieMei friends, Mandy, came. She is in Taiwan
teaching English and is from Ohio and not a member of the Church. Hong
JieMei knows English-she studied at BYU and also served a mission in
Taiwan when she was young. The main topic of conversation over dinner
was Thailand and riding Elephants! Haha. One of my favorite experiences
from traveling when we lived in China. Gan JieMei, Sister Fisher, and
Mandy have ridden elephants as well! haha

Overall,
it was a great week other than the rain almost everyday!!! I love being
a missionary so much! It is so great! I learn so much everyday! It is
the greatest thing I have ever done!

I was studying in 2 Nephi 9 this week and I absolutely loved verses 21 and 22:

21 And
he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken
unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea,
the pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who
belong to the family of Adam.

22 And
he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men, that
all might stand before him at the great and judgment day.

I
am so grateful we have this time, Easter, to really celebrate the
Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because He Lives, we can all
Live! I love you all so much!!!

If you haven't already, watch the Because He Lives video. It is amazing!!